


Cigarettes and Failure

by Meriah



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 03:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3193580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meriah/pseuds/Meriah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She waited a moment for her endorphins to dance with nicotine. As the smoke left her mouth in ribbons to reach the air, she told herself how much of a screw up she was that day. ...Failure. It was the one word above all that Domino despised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cigarettes and Failure

_Damn it._  
  
Instructed by routine, Domino pulled a cigarette from the pack. She brought the end to her mouth. Then she tapped the lighter once and from it came a flame. She sat there in her living room with the cigarette hung loosely between two fingers, while white swirls of smoke rose around her face. She breathed in, allowing the smoke to travel through her lungs. The addiction would likely kill her but in times like this it was her only relief.  
  
Nicotine love. The dependency was her only lover – the only thing that let her escape, allowed her to refocus, and eased her insecurity.  
  
She waited a moment for her endorphins to dance with nicotine. As the smoke left her mouth in ribbons to reach the air, she told herself how much of a screw up she was that day.  
  
The blonde leaned back in her chair, sinking into the cushion. Then her teeth clenched as her free arm made contact with the armrest, jolting pain upward through her body. She was bruised and battered, marked with the blue-black signs of defeat. She had not felt pain like this in a long time.  
  
She took another hit from her cigarette, then listened for a few minutes as the old air conditioner coughed out the sounds of breaking down. The cigarette burned down to its final stage; automatically, she plunged it into the overflowing ashtray.   
  
Domino tried to reposition herself in the chair. But with every movement another surge of pain challenged her. She whelped as her ribcage twisted into a new position. Then came another sentence of curses…  
  
Earlier, Domino was out in the field to steal a lucario and its precious lucarionite – that splendid jewel that radiated in all colors of the spectrum. She should have brought some Rocket grunts with her for support, but she carelessly decided that she could succeed in the mission alone.  
  
The first part was easy. She was able to stand up against the lucario in its typical form, breaking off the force of its muscles with her tulip staff. The trainer told the jackal-like creature to use Bone Rush, and in that thin air it formed a staff as well. They fought with their bodies close, only the staffs separating them, and the heat of violence burning within her with every move.  
  
But then something went wrong – something unexpected. The trainer touched the stone encased in his wristlet. A white beam surrounded the canine pokémon. In mere seconds Domino witnessed its transformation. Its tail became brushy, its muscles thickened, and stripes formed on its legs. Then additional spikes protruded from its body. Caught off guard, Domino backed away to take in the sight of this monster.  
  
There was a gasp of fear that bolted from her lungs…  
  
And fear was something she never showed.  
  
She flipped the tulip staff around in her hands, shaking herself to her senses. She was determined to win this fight.  
  
“Lucario, use Aura Sphere!” the trainer directed, his voice caught in the wind.  
  
And it did so. From between its paws grew an orb so bright that Domino had to shield her eyes. Its aura intensified, and the Rocket could even feel its heat pulsating. Its signature move. Then the canine blasted it right at her. She smashed straight into a brick wall with her arms, legs and spine making vicious contact.  
  
Her vision became blurry. Figures became amorphous in that daze; shadows of things that were once so detectable. Her head throbbed and spun from the pain. Then through clouded vision, the lucario reverted back to its true form. The last thing she could see was the trainer and  the pokémon walk away.  
  
And then everything went to dark.  
  
Domino returned to consciousness sometime later. She felt her injuries before seeing them, and the signs of her defeat had already began to deepen into bruises. It took her some time… but with great reluctance, she phoned Headquarters for transportation.  
  
Now back in the oasis of her apartment, she could only sit there in silence. Sakaki had heard about the incompleted mission immediately. He visited her, and with the callous words said, “I expected more from you, Domino. You failed me.” Then he left her alone.  
  
 **Failure.**  
  
It was the one word above all that Domino despised.  
  
She lit another cigarette. Hell, she would probably go through the whole pack in that one night.  
  
And then from out of the cobwebs of memory came a voice… a voice she never liked to remember… her own mother’s voice. “You are a failure. A filthy, piece of shit failure.”  
  
She bit down on her lip. No, she would not cry. She must not cry! She forced herself to breathe in the gasps that accompanied tears, choking on a mixture of cigarette smoke and her own turmoil.  
  
 _I am not a failure._


End file.
